Students in David Marchesani’s Transportation Education classes at Plainville High School have completed the refurbishment of a batch of bicycles as part of a community collaboration project with the Plainville Police Department and the Plainville Community Food Pantry. Thanks to a grant from the Elizabeth Norton Trust fund for tools and supplies, broken and unclaimed bicycles donated from the police department and the community were refurbished to “like new” condition by the high school students.

“Students in all of the transportation courses help to make this project successful. Each student has an opportunity to inspect and repair a bicycle. The bike shop is setup to operate like a car dealership; students are learning a real world skill-set that they can use at work. Not only is this a great learning experience, it also allows the students to give back to their community,” explained Marchesani.

“The goal of the project was to fix and repair broken bikes to give back to the community so people who need them would have a functioning mode of transportation that is reliable and will last awhile,” explained senior Patrick Jay. The bikes were then subsequently donated back to local youth through the Plainville Community Food Pantry.

The high school students who worked on the bikes shared their enthusiasm about the project. “It was a great experience being able to donate my time in class with fellow classmates to give back to the local community,” said senior Nick Cianchetti. “Every day we had different class projects, but we knew we had to do the community bike project first, and they were our number one priority in the shop. The happiness of the kids came first before our other shop projects,” added junior Jason Mills.

The high school students expect to complete the refurbishment of another group of bikes for the community before Christmas.

“This project provides our students with a unique opportunity to blend curricular instruction with a real world chance to give back to our local community. I am very proud of our students in Mr. Marchesani’s classes to help those who need it most,” noted Plainville High School Principal, Roberto Medic.